While putting together the Fist album collection I noticed this cover from Alice Cooper and was surprised by such a progressive cover for an artist like himself. Even more surprised it was released in the 1980s. Where are the crazy colours, geometric shapes and big loud type?

The cover immediately reminded me of the XTC cover. Sans any inside humour. What you get here is just the lyrics from the album presented in block paragraph form on the cover. There is also the very subtle ALICE COOPER across the top of the album via a light red hue shift. I’m not sure it was meant to be an opical illusion like the Soulwax covers I think the modern scanning and bad compression has reduced it’s readability.

I believe Explosions In The Sky copied Alice Cooper in their 2003 album “The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place”. The red Band Name in the lower right just sits too closely.

You can imagine all the Alice Cooper fans at the time (sorry to generalise) thinking “WTF is this!?”

The back cover features Alice Cooper in a suit shirt and tie. I wonder if this was originally proposed as the cover?

It’s a dead ringer for Christian Bale in American Psycho.

This is one of the few Alice Cooper covers that doesn’t feature the man himself. It’s also one of two albums he doesn’t even remember recording! “Zipper Catches Skin and the following album, DaDa, are two albums which Alice reportedly has no recollection of recording, due to excessive alcohol abuse. There was no tour to promote either album and none of the songs have yet been played live.” Source

Like all covers which do not feature the same of the album retailers and labels need to put stickers on them to make it easier to spot in record shops. Here’s a couple from Brazil and Europe for the collectors out there. Source

You can also read about the 2010 reissue and a more in-depth review of the album here.

If I redid the cover for 2010 I would have made it look even closer to the XTC cover like below. I feel this also looks more like an Alice Cooper cover just by going black!

Alice even shot a TV ad for the album which by 1980′s standards is passable (barely).

I don’t remember seeing that many TV ads for albums. But this might be as I’m too young to remember. Compare the “conceptual” Alice Cooper ad above to the more retail & music focussed ads from Kiss. Kiss sure knew how to sell well. The Zipper ad looks like a bad SNL skit.

And one last piece of Zipper Catches Skin media is this very quick review of the album by this couple of Alice Cooper fans. Rock brings people together.

I was lucky enough to catch this tweet by Rob Sheridan.
An interesting fact about Rob is that he was hired after Trent liked his fan site! Source

“I had the honor of reimagining the artwork of @nineinchnails’ classic “Pretty Hate Machine” for its upcoming re-issue: http://bit.ly/bzO9H7“

I was less interested in the cover itself and the story behind the “reimagining”.

The original cover was designed by GARY TALPAS who is now a theme park designer! An interesting resume indeed.

The official press release for the album is as follows;

Fans can now revisit the conception of Nine Inch Nails. Trent Reznor’s Null Corporation has teamed with UMe/The Bicycle Music Company to release “Pretty Hate Machine: 2010 Remaster” on November 22, 2010. After completing the score for David Fincher’s The Social Network, Reznor oversaw the digital remastering of Pretty Hate Machine from the newly unearthed original tapes with engineer Tom Baker (whose NIN credits include “The Downward Spiral,” “Broken,” “The Fragile,” “With Teeth” and “Ghosts”).

This remastered version includes an eleventh track, a cover of Queen’s “Get Down Make Love,” originally the B-side to the “Sin” single and produced by Al Jourgensen. Rob Sheridan, NIN’s longtime art director, has also re-imagined the packaging of “Pretty Hate Machine” under Reznor’s supervision. As a young musician in Cleveland, Ohio, Reznor took a job at a local recording studio and employed unused studio time to develop his own material. The nascent album was later recorded with his favorite producers including Flood/Mark Ellis (U2, Depeche Mode, PJ Harvey), John Fryer (Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil), Adrian Sherwood (Ministry, Cabaret Voltaire) and Keith LeBlanc (Tackhead). The result was the first Nine Inch Nails album, 1989′s “Pretty Hate Machine.” All songs were written, arranged, programmed and performed by Reznor. The album featured the breakthrough singles “Sin,” “Down In It” and “Head Like A Hole,” and ultimately sold over 3 million copies, reaching Triple Platinum sales status.

In the wake of the album’s initial underground success, NIN soon developed a reputation as one of the best live acts in rock and joined the inaugural Lollapalooza tour in 1991. NIN have since sold more than 18 million albums, collected Grammy® Awards and headlined arenas, amphitheaters and festivals worldwide. The Bicycle Music Company acquired the rights to “Pretty Hate Machine” from a division of Prudential Securities in the spring of 2010.

It was Bicycle’s intention from the onset to enable Reznor to regain some control of this lost piece of NIN’s legacy, resulting in this artist approved 2010 reissue of one of music’s most groundbreaking and influential albums. Note: The previous CD version was reissued in 2005 but was not overseen by Reznor and is now out of print.

And Trent posted on the forum with another small insight into what it was like working on the album after 21 years.

I’m happy to finally announce the re-issue of the first Nine Inch Nails record “Pretty Hate Machine”, releasing worldwide 11/22. UMe and Bicycle Music Group managed to locate the original mixes, so I went in the studio with Tom Baker and remastered it for a greatly improved sonic experience. In addition, Rob reinterpreted Gary Talpas’ original cover to make for a fresh new package.

It’s been an interesting trip watching the fate of this record float from one set of hands to another (a long and depressing story) but it’s finally wound up in friendly territory, allowing us to polish it up a bit and present it to you now. We had fun revisiting this old friend, hope you enjoy.

TR

So a new track, remastered audio and new artwork. NIN fans are excited. Or as this one fan on the forums said “BEST NEWS I’VE HAD SINCE THE DOCTOR CONFIRMED MY PENIS IS MADE OF CHOCOLATE” Um yes…..

I asked Rob about the cover job and if there was pressure to bring something new to the cover, why no more pink, if it was a small job or a big epic project. He was kind enough to give me one of the most detailed responses we have ever received. Thanks Rob.

Update: As some commentators have pointed out Rob’s writing is much more detailed, throughout and insightful than the text surrounding his words. I apologise for soiling your eyes with my dirty words :)

Rob S: When we began the Pretty Hate Machine remaster project, Trent discussed with me the idea of tweaking the original artwork a bit to reflect that this was a different version of the album, updated from its original release. We talked about maybe just changing the color scheme a bit – Trent was keen on losing the distinctly 80′s hot pink color, for one. It seemed like a fairly straightforward project, as I certainly didn’t want to try and radically alter an album cover I’d been looking at since I was a teenager, and that some fans had known very well for more than two decades.

The first bump in the road was that no one had the original artwork. We left no stone unturned – we even reached out to the original designer, Gary Talpas, but he had given all his materials to Nothing Records long ago. Our best guess is that those materials were lost somewhere in Trent’s split with his old management. I tried scanning the old vinyl cover, but it was poorly printed and looked like an absolute mess when scanned. Even after cleaning it up a bit, attempting to separate the colors was fairly disastrous, and the resolution was terrible.

In 2004 I redesigned NIN’s “The Downward Spiral” for its 10th anniversary Deluxe Edition. In that case, Trent still had all of Russell Mills’ original art pieces that were used in the album, so I was able to re-photograph them and present the artwork in a new and interesting way. With this album, I didn’t have that luxury. It became clear to me that I was going to have to start from scratch.

I tried a number of different approaches – I even got some various mechanical parts from hardware stores and arranged them in a way that resembled the shape of the cover image (I’d remembered reading long ago that the original image was taken of some sort of factory machine, with spokes that looked like ribs), and photographed it in different ways, then attempted to push the contrast of the photos and pull shapes out of them. Nothing was working out very well though. It either looked too far away from the original cover, or like a weird, sad imitation of it.

Finally, I decided to painstakingly recreate the original cover as closely as possible. Using my scan of the original as a template, I digitally painted the image in extremely high resolution, the same way I’d approach an illustration. I used a meticulous set of masks to recreate the “interlaced” horizontal line effect of the original cover. After a lot of trial-and-error, I eventually finished with a new version of the original artwork, created in a very different way, but retaining the same spirit.

At this point I was free to play with the color scheme. I tried a wide variety of colors, ranging from darker, more muted versions of the original color scheme, to ones that looked nothing like the original. The favorite – both of Trent and myself – was the dark blue/blue/off-white combo used in the final image. It was a bit similar to a PHM t-shirt that’s been around for a while, so there was a sense of familiarity in the colors.

I then carefully recreated the title font from the original cover, and the black frames it sat in. The font, a stretched-out version of Helvetica, looked dated to me, but I wanted to be respectful of the original design and not mess with it too much. When Trent saw what I’d done though, he wanted to try a new approach to the title text, as he felt the font was just too dated and could use a more modern look for this remaster. So I went back to the original album and looked at the font that had been used for the credits and lyrics, which turned out to be a slight variation of a font Gary Talpas later used in The Downward Spiral. Putting the PHM title in that font was way too similar to The Downward Spiral, but when I put it in caps it created an odd mix of vintage NIN and modern NIN – perfect for a 2010 remaster of a 1989 album. Trent liked this approach much better, and we settled on the way we wanted the title set on the album cover. The image sitting behind it – my recreated artwork – still felt a bit flat, though.

To push the art a bit further, I got the idea of printing the image out at a very high DPI and photographing it with a narrow depth of field, allowing parts of it to fall out of focus. This gave a new depth to the previously flat artwork, and it turned out to be exactly what the image was missing. After quite a few experiments, I ended up with the image that is now the cover, and immediately felt I’d finally gotten this thing to where I’d wanted it to be. I sent it to Trent without any of the type or anything on it, and while he’d been somewhat lukewarm on the previous material, he was immediately excited about this one. “That looks fucking great,” he told me, “we’ve got it.” I put the black frame and our new type treatment over the new cover image, and everything clicked. The new cover, with the unmistakable shape of the “ribs” and the interlacing effect, remained respectful to the original and still recognizable, while adding a more modern feel and a “fresh coat of paint” on the colors. This is not meant to replace the original cover. This is the cover for this 2010 remastered edition of the album.

The original CD cover was oriented sideways, which had never felt right to me, as the vinyl cover had a distinct vertical orientation of the full image (something I preserved in the new vinyl edition). I’d always wondered if it was a byproduct of the way the insert needed to sit in the jewel case. Either way, I wanted to bring the vertical orientation over to the CD this time around, but I also wanted to preserve the way the whole image folded out from the cover in the original CD insert. We certainly didn’t want to put this in a jewel case, so to accomplish the vertical fold-out, I came up with a unique L-shaped digipak package, where a panel folds down from the cover to reveal a vertical extension of the artwork. I also decided to put the black frame and the title text on a transparent O-card that slides over the digipak (very similar to what we did on The Downward Spiral Deluxe Edition) – so when you slide the O-card off, the image underneath is bare. It turns the black “frame” around the image into an actual frame, adding a new layer of depth to the art.

For the remainder of the package, I was cautious not to add much extra artwork and overdo it. The original sleeve was extremely minimal, only using type on black amidst a few variations of the cover image here and there for the internal art, so I wanted to preserve that. Some might say it’s boring to have plain black pages with text on them for the lyrics, but I’d rather stay true to what had been done previously than add a bunch of art and risk having it feel like an altogether different album. The only other piece of art in the original insert was a photograph of Trent. Revisiting that, Trent wasn’t incredibly excited about including it in this version, and we didn’t have the original photograph anyway, so we left it out.

Throughout this process, I was very concerned with being respectful to the original artwork. This is not my album, and as a fan for many years, I have the same attachment to the original art that many other fans do. So my tendency was to play it safe, but it was Trent who felt a bit less precious about the original art, and he pushed me to do something that was visually further away from what I had originally intended. I think in the end we found a great middle ground, and we’re both really pleased with how it turned out. Recreating the art – somewhat by necessity – was a huge honor, and so far it seems fans are generally pretty pleased with what we’ve done…even if there’s no pink in it.

Sleevage: Is there any rejected artwork or experiments?
Rob S: The only rejected ideas were my own ideas that I rejected before I showed them to anybody – mostly in the department of trying to recreate the artwork photographically. That was the only time I was tempted to do something dramatically different from the original art – for the most part my instinct was to not drift very far from the original, as it just didn’t feel right to me. Redesigning an album you listened to over and over again as a teenager is a pretty strange task, so I was understandably cautious.

Sleevage: Can we see the failed experiments?
Rob S: Ha, I think I’ll keep those failed experiments in the vault for now – they failed for good reason!

Sleevage: Has Gary seen the new artwork?
Rob S: I don’t know what Gary thinks of the new design, but he was very friendly when we reached out with him and said he really liked all the stuff we’ve been doing with NIN’s design in recent years. I hope he appreciates what we did with the new cover.

Sleevage: Was this planned to be a simple job. Just pump it out quickly or a labour of love?
Rob S: I thought it was going to be a simple job, but the fact that we didn’t have the source art made it actually quite a project. Between my various failed experiments at recreating the art photographically, the meticulous way I ended up doing it by hand, and the amount of finessing it took to find the right presentation, it was actually quite a bit of work, and we had a pretty abrupt deadline for it. All things considered I’m pleased with the way it turned out.

My favourite part of the cover is not knowing what it was on the cover! (This was before the internet can solve that with one search) I had always imagined it was an old microphone like below.

The vinyl cover is below which doesn’t feature the NIN name this time.

Interesting to note that the album is #1 on Amazon for Industrial.

What other classic albums could use a remaster for both audio and design?

Beck’s Deluxe edition of Odelay took the original and went to town on it. Are there any other good examples of remastered/deluxe covers?

There’s so much mystery about this cover that perhaps it’s better to start with what we do know. The image was taken by London-based Jake Walters, a commercial photographer with an impressive portfolio across fashion, celebrity and editorial portraiture.

The adorable baby, with its cheeky little expression so at odds with Morrissey’s stern gaze, is the son of Charlie Brown, Morrissey’s assistant tour manager.

Design practice No Allegiances is responsible for the design and packaging. Having noticed the subtle Mexican sounds in the music, they took their cue from Mexican folk art and vintage California. The typography was inspired by the work of legendary illustrator and printmaker José Guadalupe Posada.

The packaging also features a still life, Bodegon Con Jarra de Vino (1914), by A. Fuentes.

Noting the chiaroscuro of both the cover photography and painting, No Allegiances ran the LP and special CD version on fabric-textured stock to “makes the record feel like an oil painting hanging in the Louvre that you shouldn’t have just touched.”

But what does it all mean? The arresting image on the cover of Morrissey’s ninth studio album caused an instant deluge of speculation when it was first surfaced late last year.

Widely reported as celibate, the image of an awkwardly paternal Morrissey seemed unlikely. It also followed two other popular covers where the indie icon held a gun and a violin.

The consensus opinion seemed to be that the title referred to his years of refusing sex and that the baby on the cover symbolically represented an absence born of this choice.

Complicating matters further are the symbols – one of which appears on the baby’s forehead and the other on his arm. When the image first appeared online the file size was too small to fully make these out. Was that a W on the baby’s forehead? Did it represent the outgoing president of the Unites States?

Um, no – the baby has a butterfly on his forehead, while Morrissey’s arm seems to feature a caterpillar. For me, this awkward symbolism is the cover’s one misstep and adds little to what appears to be an instantly iconic image.

If it’s meaning is opaque, it’s no accident. This is after all this is Morrissey – a cultural figure that has always defied easy categorisation. An artist that has referred to himself as being “a fourth sex”; that famously campaign for animal rights and vegetarianism. A man who has flirted with the nationalistic far right and in the nineties developed what Encyclopedia Brittanica described as “a growing homoerotic obsession with criminals, skinheads, and boxers”.

Anticipating speculation about his latest cover, he had already drafted a response on the sleeve notes to The Years of Refusal:

“If you ask why the new album has the title it has (‘Years of Refusal’) and why on the cover he is holding the baby, after holding on previous covers the violin and the gun, because after all people will want to know, or more rumours will spill into the world and its voracious, agitated internet shadow, the sigh will almost crack into real annoyance. If you sail close to the gale force wind and bring up the sticky situations he finds himself in when he talks of his mythical old England, its disappearance and/or cultural and commercial conversion, and heretically flirts with the flag, and faces expulsion from the entertainment scene, then the sigh and the awkwardness will know no bounds.”

But in the last few years I’ve been rediscovering the music of my teenage years and also how kickass the album covers were. It took me a while to whittle down my list to my favourite top 10. I’m sure I’ll come across a few later and wish I included them, but for now this is my definitive list in no particular order.

Warlock – Triumph & Agony
- Awesome painted cover: check.
- Chrome logo: check.
- Foxy blonde woman in leather being fondled by a demon: check.

Vinyl was king in the 80′s and hard core audiophile metal fans still prefer this format. The beauty of the large dimensions of vinyl covers is you can appreciate the detail and work put into painted artworks like this cover. This would look great on the side of a panel van.

Motorhead – The Bomber
This cover appeals to the plane spotter in me. Apparently there was a slight uproar that an English band would choose a German bomber, a Heinkel 111, over the English Lancaster bomber. Lead singer & bassists defended this decision: “Sure, it’s a filthy memory – but the fact is the bad guys make the best shit.” The scale of the band member to the aircraft is all wrong but I think it adds a comical air to the setting.

The Cult – Electric
The photo of the band is the only weak part of this cover and feels like a last minute add in. Sorry Ian Astbury, I’m sure that is your best raccoon hat.

But metal bands have the best logos, and creative use of typography and i think this cover is a great example of that. Metal band logo designs always seem to embody the nature of the group it is representing.

Def Leppard – Hysteria
This cover design is actually pretty cheesy and a good indicator of late 80′s graphix and that’s why i like it. The album is called ‘Hysteria’ so lets have a badly painted morphing of faces screaming. Overlay it on the plans to the Death Star from Star Wars IV and have a paint splattered album title, job done.

Judas Priest – British Steel
I’ve never understood the appeal of ‘The Priest’ but I’ve wanted to like them based on my fondness for some of their covers, which include Screaming for Vengeance & Turbo Lover. British Steel is my favourite.
This cover couldn’t be any more metal. A leather studded arm firmly gripping an oversized razor blade, all set on a “how more black could this be? and the answer is none – none more black” background. And their logo is just kick ass.

Kiss – Rock and Roll Over
I remember flicking through my friend’s extensive Kiss album collection for the first time and coming across this cover. It stood out in stark contrast to the direction of their other covers, and even other fellow metal groups cover designs at the time (1976). It feels like more of a designed cover then some artistic piece with it’s symmetry and very poppy japanese influence.

Poison – Open Up and Say.. ahh!
For me, this is the quintessential 80′s Hair Metal album cover. Day-glow colours, a Gene Simmons inspired tongue, big hair and a ridiculously unsubtle and misogynistic album title.

Aerosmith – Permanent Vacation

I love this for the great Sailor Jerry Tattoo inspired illustrations and the way they are placed in a repetitive wallpaper pattern. The red illustrations on black also balance really well with the yellow Aerosmith logo.

Iron Maiden – Somewhere in Time
It would be sacrilegious to not have a Maiden cover in this list. They’ve had some great covers but I guess this one stands out for me due to the fact it reminds me of Blade Runner. It came out around the time I started getting interested in metal, making this the first Maiden cover I came across. It also features one of my favourite incarnations of Eddie.

Van Halen – Fair Warning
This cover

I’ve loved Van Halen from the day I first listened to Van Halen 1. They’ve had a few interesting album covers after their first two releases, with Fair Warning being the standout for me. This cover is a little disturbing, which is fitting for what was hailed as Van Halen’s darkest album. But it wasn’t until I researched this cover that I discovered the complete painting “The Maze” created by the Canadian artist William Kurelek. The painting is a depiction of the artist’s  tortured youth and makes for a very bold and interesting choice for a so-called “hair band”. Then again, as fans of the band already know know, they were always so much more than that.

Neko Case is an American singer songwriter famed for her contributions to the alt-country genre and her work with band The New Pornographers. Middle Cyclone is her 5th studio album and, belying her low profile, it entered the Billboard charts at #3 on release.

The cover art has attracted a lot of attention and its obvious why – it’s not everyday you see a striking redhead on top of a muscle car with a hardcore sword in her hand. The first thing I thought was that one of the pin up girls from a WWII fighter jet had come to life and decided to join the combat.

The car featured on the cover is a 1968 Mercury Cougar, a design and motoring icon of its era. By way of tribute to the recently departed Farrah Fawcett, here’s a 1975 TV advertisement for the Cougar featuring the foxy golden girl.

Is it just me, or did they really know how to advertise cars back then? Cars and sexy women have always been inextricably linked, in that most men invest in the former to get the latter. It’s hard to believe that when Case formed the concept for this cover art she didn’t have in mind Tawny Kitaen’s sensational work in Whitesnake’s Here I Go Again video.

Of course, 80’s model Kitaen would go on to battle drug addiction and in 2002 she was charged with committing domestic violence against her then-husband, baseball player Chuck Finley. She beat him with a stiletto heel.

Case wields a sword instead and the stony determination on her face would surely instill fear in the most formidable of opponents. It’s a strong, memorable image that could date rather quickly due to the annoying indie typography. However, the unbeatable trinity of a muscle car, medieval weaponry and a redhead will probably ensure that most male viewers don’t even notice.

For Bob Evans’ (aka Kevin Mitchell) third album, he took a decidedly different approach to the artwork. Goodnight, Bull Creek! alludes to his native suburb outside of Perth and his departure for new terrain. The artwork is a departure as well from his first two albums: Suburban Kid and Suburban Songbook.

The new look, while still nostalgic and romantic, has more of a storybook, hand-crafted quality to it. The liner notes are an excerpt of Bob’s studio diary from the recording, with lyrics being placed on his website instead. All captions to the booklet illustrations are Bob’s own.

Sleevage caught up with Kareena Zerefos, the illustrator of all GNBC!-related artwork. The artwork is based on a series of photographs by Andrew Christie, a Perth friend of Bob’s, and re-interpreted by Kareena. Her other album artwork credits include Sparkadia and The John Steel Singers. And if you’re a regular at venerable Sydney live venue, The Hopetoun, undoubtedly Kareena’s work gracing the walls has given you a moment’s pause over your schooner.

Q: What type of illustration & design work do you typically do? How do you describe your style?

KZ: Most of the work I do involves hand drawn illustration, which I often work in with some computer generated design elements – particularly for commercial projects. I love working for clients within the music and fashion industries, and I’m lucky to have the opportunity to do this quite a bit.

I would describe my style as being delicate, nostalgic and whimsical.

Q: How did you get involved in the Bob Evans album artwork?

KZ: It was back in December last year that I received a lovely email from Kevin, he had come across some of my work while looking for inspiration for album art and after having a bit of a chat about it all, I ended up working on the artwork for Goodnight, Bull Creek!

Q: What was the brief for the artwork?

The brief was fairly open, I suppose the main criteria basically was to draw “a simple walking picture” of Kevin. This was great because I was able to have a bit of a play, which allowed the artwork to evolve in its own way. We ended up deciding to show this evolution with the artwork for the first single release from the album, Someone So Much.

Photo by Andrew Christie

Someone So Much – single

Q: How did the music play a role in the artwork?

I think Goodnight, Bull Creek! has a really honest, personal feel to it – similar to the older Bob Evans raw folkish sound [but I suppose a little bit more rock and roll!] and I wanted to sort of tie everything together like a storybook through my illustrations. The most important thing to me was to try and capture the honesty, but also the energy and, to some extent, earthiness.

Q: How did you go about creating the artwork?

The artwork was created with a multitude of hand drawn and painted layers. It started out as a sketch to get an idea of composition and also posture, then it was really about finding the right expression in the face and finally bringing in more colour, texture and movement. I worked with all of these elements in photoshop to evolve these as the ideas developed.

Someone So Much – EP

Q: Tell us about the font choices.

We became quite interested in the idea of the artwork being a little bit like that of a vintage storybook [a bit of an obsession of mine!], so when playing around with different ideas for the type this was what I had in mind. I based the type on an existing classic serif typeface, but tweaked it a little to make it a little more personal and unique.

Q: What were the biggest challenges with the project?

Working with portraits is generally one of the most challenging things to do, particularly when there is a tight deadline and a small number of reference images to work from. Finding the right expression, depicting a realistic likeness and making this work with the overall figure and composition was quite difficult with this piece.

Q: What’s next for you?

I’m about to head over to Sweden and Denmark for a little inspirational trip, there are some fantastic artists and designers from that part of the world, and I’m also really interested in the landscape and history. When I return I’m hoping to have a bit of time to explore new ideas and materials for my personal artwork… and besides that, I’ll take it as it comes .

Kareena’s artwork is being featured alongside that of Daniel Boud and Greedy Hen at the World Bar in Kings Cross.

When trying to think up how best to describe this cover for Portishead’s “Third” I found an interview with the designer which summed it up perfectly. Which makes sense as he designed it. Marc Bessant said;

“after the ten year gap from the last record I knew the only visual which had stuck in the public eye had been the ‘P’ character, it was an established brand which I wanted to not only reintroduce but reinforce. We were keen to avoid anything ‘conceptual’, no puns or noir imagery, that was all dead to us, I wanted to present a box, which simply holds the music, with the least amount of information on it which would ultimately say everything – essential minimalism – which I felt captured the eastern block coldness of some of the music I was hearing in the studio.”

I think that perfectly describes this cover.

The statement above shows the importance of having a strong brand to your band. If you were to disappear for 10 years what would people remember about you? Do you have a strong visual mark to identify yourself?

The subtle texture and rough painted lines are a nice touch. If this was done in a vector program it would have lost a lot of its charm.

There was a limited edition box set which contained all the usual goodies but also a “P” USB stick with pre-loaded videos. This rocks but at 1GB you’ll end up just keeping it in the bookshelf to show off to friends as 1GB is like giving someone a Moleskine with 10 pages. Nice but useless.

Marc did the modeling in MODO. Which I’d never heard of before.

Here’s the box set description from the actual box.

Here’s the limited print by animator Nick Uff. Scan from Luke’s flickr. Not my cup of tea but you can’t please everyone. I’m not sure if every print was different or there was a selection or prints as the one in the image above is different from this scan below. Here’s an interesting interview with Nick Uff. His Youtube channel is pretty sparce.

Here’s a clip for “We Carry On” that was on the USB stick.

For some reason Island & Universal disable embedding on their Youtube video. (WHY!?) So see the video for “The Rip” here in terrible Youtube quality.

Here’s one of his personal animations. It’s certainly different.

ruff toot from howies on Vimeo.

You’ll notice it says “ongoing online content” as part of the box set. One part of that is this live video of a gig from the Mayan Theatre.

One element I am disappointed with on the Third album is the lack of continuity. That beautiful simplicity of the P3 is then wasted on the “Machine Gun” and “The Rip” singles.

Machine Gun (below) looks like a NIN cover and carry no resemblance to the Third cover.

It does match the film clip however. Directed by John Minton

I found this version of the cover while researching. I don’t think it’s official though (As pointed out by JT in the comments the font is wrong)

Check out John’s other Portishead clips such as the P3 logo reel below

and the “The truly spectacular Universal conference film”.

Check out the Portishead Youtube channel for a few more videos.

That’s probably the only song I think I could fake myself as a drummer on :)

Here is “The Rip” which features artwork by Nick Uff etched into the vinyl.

Could the simple blue painted letters have become old quickly? Maybe, but these other designs just seem so disjointed that you lose the synergy of having a album and single being part of a pack.

There was a poster for the album created which is just the cover with a date. It would have been nice to see if this P3 simple idea could have been explored further.

if you want more info on the designer Marc Bessant, he has a site, a blog and a Behance portfolio. I have noticed recently that most of my designer searches are showing up with Behance portfolios so I guess this site is becoming popular.

What amazed me was that Marc was the director of the “All Mine” promo video seen below. I remember originally seeing this and thinking WTF!?

Now I look at it again and love it. Marc posts about this on his blog here.

“I remember the shocked faces at a trendy Soho film suite when asking that they keep bumping down the original film to VHS tape and then back again so as to get a proper degraded feel to it, as opposed to a computer filter added after. To me it looks just the right side of ropey but alas the TV powers that be weren’t so keen so the film was rarely played. The italian subtitle mid-way through the promo reads ‘We apologise for the poor quality of sound’ – an obvious pun when the sound is really the only thing of true quality.”

He also designed and shot the cover for their self titled album “Portishead”. So 11 years later he’s back on the job. Here’s to keeping an updated phone book :)

I wonder if he was also responsible for the “P” which became their logo? As their previous covers did not feature it. The Portishead website is just a bunch of P’s so it looks like they’ll be sticking with it for a while.

For those that want to know the data rate of the tracks on the USB stick and any other minute details check out Discogs.

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Limited to 1000 copies and sold out in 12hrs means that if you forgot to check your email that day you would have missed out. Or maybe you were sick with the flu and missed out and are now trawling eBay (only 1 listing) for a chance to get your hands on this limited edition steel case for Autechre’s 9th album.

The design is by The Designers Republic and I don’t there is another company that could sell this design into a client or another band like Autechre that would buy it. Looking at the cover and then being told it’s a TDR piece you say “oh yeah I can see that”. Not knocking their work (big balls to do that) but it fits their M.O if you know what I mean.

If I had to describe the cover to a blind person I’d say “it’s as if a chronic stutterer were in court and the court reporter was transcribing their testimony verbatim with white san serif type on a flat blue background.”

But enough talk from me lets look at some photos courtesy of Martin Dixon Thanks for the use of the photos Martin.

Here’s two more photos from Alex Young

The album was intended to be a digital release (and was a full 6 weeks before a physical release) but in a Clash Music feature Sean Booth was quoted;

“The actual product is the FLAC file – but I don’t object to those who want to own something that they can hold”

As dumb as this sounds it’s the first time I have heard of FLAC. But I’m going to start using that term to seem even more elite. MP3s!! pffttt… I only listen to FLAC and in HD 24/96 too.

The actual Clash Music feature is a good read. This quote from them on the brief to TDR is great

“Our brief was really, really specific” he explained “the idea was to be type based, neat and producty. We knew if we went to our normal designer he’d take the piss as he’s just so creative he’d cut it right down. Designers Republic understood us immediately and the result is stunning”

Can’t wait until I receive a brief with the word “producty”.

The whole limited edition sold direct to fans is something NIN did well recently and for me is the future for many bands. Once you build a critcal mass of followers and you treat them well you can basically use them as a cash generating machine. A free digital album here, a few over priced tickets there and a limited edition USB stick for xmas. Everyone’s happy.

The standard cover is essentially the same design but in blue. Although you lose the complete sexiness of the laser etched steel it still is a nice, if very designy cover.

The poster and other collateral (website, Myspace) all followed the same design style. Here’s a poster (photos by Japanese Forms)

On a final note: Here’s a review from an eager Youtube Vlogger. Try this: Press play and close your eyes. Then half way through open them and see if the guy talking matches his voice. He has a good “radio voice” and I mean that in a good sense. He just looks so young.

For those looking for an actual album review check out Pitchfork or this one on Amazon

Do you think bands will have a future selling “limited edition” physical copies of 100% digitally released albums?

Q: I initially read somewhere about where and how this laser etched cover was produced but now I have lost the link. Can anyone help?

People who bought the standard CD version of the album also got this awesome Limited Edition Autechre hat!

Not really I just found this in the office and it reminded me of the album :)

Update: thanks to Mark for his info on the Quadrange EP.AE. I forgot about this when posting.

Each track released as FLAC (lossless audio) had minimalist artwork associated with it, so in iTunes it will change per song. Oh I love this big white square song :)

I have shrunk these down here but you can grab them from Discogs. Is this what you get from TDR if you’re budget is really small. But hey it fits the theme of the other artwork and it ties in with the name. Quadrangle is one of the few shapes I remember from school. I don’t know a rhombus from a trapezoid though.

They must charge per right angle :)

JAN 23, 2009 UPDATE: tDR is no longer. After 23 years they have closed shop. See article in CR here.

Live album artwork is a tough call… How does a designer create a striking and original concept when they’re usually provided with a stock-standard single (probably grey-scale or sepia) photograph of an artist on stage in front a legion of adoring fans?
Here’s a predictable photo+brief. Go forth, unleash your genius!

The Cat Empire’s first live album, Live On Earth managed to dodge the live album drudgery minefield. The creative agency Debaser, still featured the mandatory gig pics, but also provided saturated colour & high contrast, reinforced the band’s identity as a live act, conveyed the multi-faceted nature of the band*, & threw in an extra shot of a guy in a ski-mask for good measure.

* rock / jazz / hip-hop / pop / ska / reggae, if you didn’t know… I’ve never in my life seen a granny shaking it with a teenager in a hoodie during a turntable scratching solo other than at an Empire show – it’s… unique.

If you live in Australia and go to more than one gig a year, you’ve been to a show. Their live show reputation precedes them: on the opening night of the Sydney Festival this year, they played to 100,000 people in The Domain. They hold the record for the most consecutive shows at Sydney’s Metro Theatre (8 sold out gigs) & the largest audience ever in Darling Harbour. The six of them have toured since 2000, playing in Cuba, Japan, all over Europe, Canada, the USA, & of course Australia (hence the name Live on Earth) and tallying up a massive 650 shows in the last 7 years.

So it makes sense to use a photo-mosaic to convey their sheer number of live shows and sizeable audiences. The high colour saturation captures the energy and wildness of their shows. Also, how the hell else do you show a horn section + turntables + african drums + keys + dancing nuns all in a single image?

I’m grateful they didn’t resort to the cliched photo-mosaic style popularised in the 90s which adorns so many college dorm walls, where the comprising images may as well be photos of Persian cats for all the detail we can see… The Cat Empire photos allow us to see the fans and band members in equal perspective (the first time the band has featured prominently on a cover), and attempt to form no greater image other than the simple and iconic Cat Empire logo.

Speaking of… the Cat Empire crowned cat-eye logo (known as “Pablo”) has been a single thread running through their back catalogue – it has featured prominently on all their artwork, and is reminiscent of the omnipresent NIN logo. It’s fantastic when a band makes a conscious stylistic decision to find an image / font / concept that represents them and actually sticks to it, like the Weezer Century Gothic logo, NIN logo or Iron Maiden’s Eddy .

Of course, the world’s love affair with Helvetica has been continued on the Live On Earth album. The choice was for Ultra Compressed, although it has been slightly distorted for their usage. Having recently seen the Helvetica documentary, sans-serifs are haunting my dreams.

The kids responsible for the artwork are Dave Homer & Aaron Hayward of Sydney firm Debaser, who are responsible for most of the fantastic Australian album art for the last few years including Empire of the Sun, Jackson Jackson, Paul Kelly, Faker, Kisschasy, Tim Finn, Powderfinger, etc etc…

The Live On Earth album is available from Feb 28 in Australia, but you can download a free 25min live version of The Car Song off the album at www.thecatempire.com.

Wow another Beck album so soon. I’ve been so busy lately a street poster had to alert me to the fact this was released.

Initially I thought they had forgotten to commission a cover for the album and just used what was lying around for the cover of Modern Guilt. It’s boring, uninspired and so generic. If I knew the emoticon for yawn I’d insert it here.

But then I stumbled upon an artist’s site who was commissioned to develop multiple visual concepts for the cover all of which went unused! Why spend the money (I hope Mario was paid) and then not use it?

Below are four distinct visual directions for the album that no one, well maybe not now, will ever see. Two “verbal” and two “non-verbal”. This begs the question, were other artists asked to waste their time too? If you were please contact us we love to share.

The artist behind these designs is Mario Hugo, a freelance illustrator/art director in NY. The little info I could find on him was from this outdated portfolio page.

So check out what could have been Beck’s latest album cover, and if you are just as uninspired by the official cover as I am, grab these and change the cover on your via iTunes.

Wooden type gives me wood. This direction is my fav.

What does everyone else think?

P.S. I will note that the final two china ink stained examples bares a resemblance to Hanne Hukkelberg’s “Rykestrasse 68″ a cover Mario illustrated for Non-format back in 2006. This could have been a request from the label or Beck as most of the time designers get work based off previous projects.

The artist behind these designs is Mario Hugo, a freelance illustrator/art director in NY. The little info I could find on him was from this outdated portfolio page.

MAJOR UPDATE: KAFONT in the comments points out, what I should have, this article from NYmag. NYmag extracts this quote from the Vanity Fair article from 2001 on Beck’s 50 favorite album covers which is probably Beck’s single minded proposition for the album’s cover.

“Highway 61 Revisited is one of the first great anti-covers. Dylan looks burnt, shirt wrinkled — like he’s waiting for catering at the gig or something. And somebody’s just randomly walked in behind him. In an era of Patti Page-style, perfectly lit and posed covers, this cover was a defecation. And these days you’d rarely see such a throwaway picture on such an ‘important’ album.”

So the cover is a pastiche (my new fav word) of Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited”. And here I thought it was a “Right Price” bargain bin design. Beck’s been waiting 7 years to use the cover too. What a patient guy.

Imagine if this style of cover was used by other bands in the past? Think of what we would have missed. (Insert subtle argument as to why this cover is lame here)

I could go on but you get the idea. And to proove you can just chuck any image in with some text. Here’s one I whipped up for Sleevage.

It’s almost like the cover meme we posted about here.

After reading the comments below I have come to dislike the cover less. I’ve also got the album now and giving it solid rotation. As witnessed by my Last.fm page. Oh shit Beck’s my fav music artist by a long shot. I will say I mainly listen to music while working or blogging so my love of heavy metal isn’t very SFW if you know what I mean. Plus it’s hard to blog while head banging.

Last thought: I think back in 1965 Bob Dylan’s cover would have had more impact than the Modern Guilt cover does today. But I do love that the cover now has a back story and can stand alone on this blog even without the alternate covers.

The smaller the budget the bigger the restrictions, and the smarter you have to be to solve the client’s problem. This design solution for Murmur Records from Bunch is just that. Iconic, visually arresting and cheap to produce. These debut releases from Murmur are bound to be collectors items.

The cover above is from the first release from Rekleiner titled “Some People”, which sold out in a week. Future releases will keep the same cover design while the label colour changes. Here’s the next two releases for “Reclick & Nick Curly” and “Bearweasel”.

This will be a pain in the ass for the colour blind DJ’s out there.

They could also mix it up by inversing the cover with white on black! In fact here’s one I prepared earlier :)

Looks pretty sweet but this might increase the printing costs?

The ID for Murmur is carried across into posters which are more understated.

I first came to know Bunch from their collective logo design site Made in Bunch. It’s still going and is a great example of how the design community love to share. Name another industry that shares at this level for no profit or reason?

Bunch are a talented bunch

This is one of my favs. Maybe because I love bread. Mmm bread… other white meat!

I spoke to Bunch who were kind enough to send me some rejected/initial designs for the Murmur ID. It’s quite interesting to see the different executions and how different the final direction is. All ideas revolved around the die cut in the middle of the vinyl. Thanks Bunch for sharing these.

Offtopic: I’d love to get this type treatment as a wall sticker like the one’s at Blik. Check out the Threadless set are prepare to spend your cash. Although they don’t deliver to Australia which is lame.

In fact that’s how I imagine the Murmur office reception area to be. Something like this below.

It’s a testiment to the Rolling Stones that the original Rolled Gold (the best of) was released over 30 years ago. This version has been titled Rolled Gold+ and you have to thank someone for not calling in Rolled Gold 2.0 which was probably mentioned in a meeting. Thankfully this version of the album not only has more songs but the cover and package is much sexier. The album is available in double CD, quadruple vinyl LP, and USB flash drive editions; the USB edition was the first album to be released in the UK in this format. It is also available via digital download.

I’ve timed this post with the release of Shine A Light in Australian cinemas which has been getting rave reviews. “If you’re a fan of music in anyway you must see this it’s F’ng awesome” was Jon’s quick review to me. Jon runs Guitar Noize which is the best guitar blog out there. Also if you’re a guitar fan you can win a signed Keith Richards guitar here. We’ll split the Ebay money if you win.

This album is a relrelease and enhancement of the 1975 release by the same name. Here’s the original 1975 cover for comparison. I kinda like the bubble type when it’s small. According to this discography the original album was unauthorsed by the Rolling Stones. Which seems weird. Does anyone know the full story?

As with all covers these days you need to allow for a sticker to contain all the text info that would make your cover design look cluttered. Here’s the jewel case with that sticker. This is probably more important in this version as the typography isn’t the easiest to read and original Rolling Stones fans would be getting on a bit and have trouble dechipering it.

The cover was designed and art directed by Zip Design with the typography skills of Alex Trochut. What sparked my interest in this cover was Alex showcasing it in his recent talk at Semi Permanent in Sydney. He took us through his entire creative process and evolution of his work and I found it one of the most honest and well through out talks of the two days.

He mentioned that Zip Design had contacted him and referenced a previous piece of his work as the direction they wanted to take for the cover. This piece is below which was a piece for a film festival.

Zip Design had actually pitched a gold version to the client and sent this to Alex. (Note: I’ve mock this up as Alex only showed this at the talk it wasn’t available online)

The cover itself is just part of the package you get with this album. The whole pack has been put together really well and presented as a collectors item for fans. This might seem obvious but I just got the Indiana Jones DVD boxset and it’s stripped to the bare bones with cheap DVD cases and no booklet at all. It relly felt cheap once I opened the pack which was dissapointing.

For those wondering what are the new tracks on the + edition of the album you can visit the WIKI page for the full rundown.

Kisschasy’s second album “Hymns for the Nonbeliever” takes the form of an old bible which was inspired by the album’s title. The band actually briefed the studio with “we want a bible” and Mathematics took it from there.

Here’s the back cover as I know some people have asked for the front and back of all covers.

The cover was actually scanned from an old bible found at a local bookshop. Then touched up with gold foil to make it seem authentic, although it’s hard to see it on the flat jpg. Here’s a photo which shows off the “very expensive” gold foiling.

Also you’ll see the band’s official website reflects the album artwork. The header image you see on the site is the same artwork found in the booklet. But I’m not a fan of it so have gently skipped over it.

The type was all hand rendered then scanned in. Here’s a couple of scans.

The singles all share a similar art direction which not only helps keep the entire albums marketing cohesive but also saves the designers from having to undergo the long process of approvals.

That said the first single is probably the most removed from the others.

Spray on Pants not only has a great title but also a fun film clip.

The latest single off the album “String and Drums” is another ornate looking Bible type cover.

One interesting thing I found on Amazon is their version of the cover has been scanned by a blind gimp which resulted in it looking like this.

Nice work Amazon. You’d think part of Amazon’s job would be to get the covers right. Or maybe the label could have fixed this.

Seeing these old bibles got me interested in the look and feel of old books. A quick Google image search for “Old Bible” pulls up some interesting photos.

I wonder how many other books would last 150+ years. Certainly not my MAD magazine collection that’s for sure.

Those with more money than they know what to do with and a deep sense of religion can start an antique bible collection. Here you can browse bibles from $50k – $900,000.

While researching this cover I noticed that Kischasy’s first album is fantastic as well which I will have to post soon as I’ve just been sent all the artwork for that.

I’m not sure what the concept behind the distorted text is and I’m not 100% confident “Rumproller” is meant to be a reference to shaking your booty. It’s a great name for a roller coaster though.

I do know that it stands out when browsing by tiny thumbnail on a music site. Although this was the last thing on the designer’s mind back in 1965.

I remember playing around with this effect on the photocopier at uni. I even had a dream last week about photocopiers. Exciting I know.

The stark design and distorted text is certainly eye catching. I can’t help but this of Saul Bass when I see this and the subtle image of a shoe.

Was this just “something that looked cool” or is there a cultural message I’m missing in the distorted text?

Female fans can snap this up as a T-Shirt from Ropeadope.com which the site proclaims “Our most popular women’s item.”

I was surprised to find the label’s signature look can be attributed to one person. Reid Miles wasn’t the only designer who did covers for Blue Note but he was the major driving force behind it’s icon status in the design community. While Peter Saville and Vaughan Oliver seem to be quoted regularly as a source of inspiration I haven’t heard much talk about Reid Miles. This could be my own ignorance though. His WIKI page is sorely lacking too. Computer Arts has a quick feature on Reid Miles here. Worth a read if you want a more detail analysis of his career.

This wasn’t the first time Reid Miles had used the distorted type idea. The previous year he’s used it for “Art Blakey’s Indestructible” which in terms of high concept is more literal. I guess Reid wanted to have another crack at it for this release.

I prefer this more as a women’s tee not only for the colour but also it covers the boobs better. The Rumproller would make better sweat pants.

With over 12 years of design heritage behind it, a design for Bugged Out! Classics is like doing the “Best Of” for bands like U2, Beatles and the like. You don’t want to replicate what has been done previously and you want this to stand on its own.

Rather than fake being hip and know the UK club scene I’ve pasted text from their about page on Bugged Out! website which explains what the hell it is.

Bugged Out is an all night electro/techno party that takes place at The End in London, Sankeys in Manchester and The Loft in Barcelona. We also visit other clubs in the UK and around the world. We are over 12 years old (which in club years means we can grow a nice moustache) and had LFO at our first party in November 1994 and have had everyone from Daft Punk, Green Velvet, The Chemical Brothers, Miss Kittin, Ellen Allien, Tiga to Vitalic over the years.

If clubs were people, Bugged Out! would certainly be able smack down most of it’s competitors based on it’s creds. Classics is a compilation with each of the 3 CDs presented as an ASCII cover all wrapped up in a lovely digi pack with a booklet and poster thrown in for good measure. I’m not a fan of folded CD posters though. They always look shite on your wall due to the number of folds.

I do however love the simplicity of the ASCII with the Dayglo like paper. The UK design group Zip have looked after the creative direction for Bugged Out! for the last 9 years and I think this is the best work for the project to date.

Here’s the fold out poster which chronicles the design history of the club.

I found this album on CR’s blog. The lead in for the article sums up exactly what we at Sleevage have been talking about for a while.

Already this year several musical packages have landed on our desks and made us very happy – not least because they conspire to give a clear indication that budgets for music packaging are on the up. It would seem that the big labels are starting to take note of the examples smaller labels such as Motive Sounds (CR March 07) or Lex Records (CR December 03) have set in recent years: lavish, interesting packaging makes the product desirable… Of course, downloading an album or a single track for peanuts is far more appealing than spending £15 on a mass-produced plastic case with a cheaply printed piece of paper inside and a plastic disc. However, make something a little bit special – and there’s a far better chance we’ll seek it out to buy and subsequently treasure.

For those wanting to do their own ASCII text there are plenty of online tools. I made this Sleevage one using this ASCII generator.

I’m surprised that this ASCII hasn’t been used before for a CD cover. It’s easy to produce and cheap to print not to mention stands out from the crowd, it must have just been overlooked.

P.S: We apologise for the lack of updates recently. We’ve been busy planting trees, saving kittens and coaching little league. But we’ve grown tired of that and are back to keep blogging about CD covers and music.